Jump to content

Effects of piracy on small business owners


 Share

Recommended Posts

I think largely the wrong attitude is employed in the fight against piracy. You can get the same message across (ie reducing piracy) using more positive methods.

10-15 years ago I would have sympathized with someone saying they're just a bedroom hobbyist who can't afford all the tools needed. But it's a very different world today with a huge amount of free software. And this free stuff will largely outperform what even the biggest professionals had access to in recent history. Yet most people are still completely ignorant to this amazing development. I very often manage to surprise people just by prodding them in the right direction.

I think a large scale information campaign about freeware could have a lot of impact. And for smaller developers selling software, I think a unified marketplace like Steam has for indie titles would be very beneficial.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Taiko2 is a good example.... and also regarding the relation between quality and price its more then a hot deal. If my machine could handle the Kontakt player beneath other instances i would buy Taiko2 instantly for my new and future projects. Piracy is an insult to the creators as well to the people who honor these works through buying, donations and legaly using software of any kind. Anyway... no wonder some High Quality Plugin's and VST's are nearly unable to get for an average earner if it is pirated massively. The sales figures drop -> balooning prices

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A question that's harder to answer is - how many of these people who got a copy do something with it - more importantly, -achieve- something with it? With music it would be - how many just hoard it and put it in a collection, and never listen to it? Even with a multi-gigabyte library, you have to be actually skilled to do something with it.

A pirated copy does not necessarily translate to a sale. The people who get this kind of stuff - do they actually need it, or do they just hoard it? And the people who do use it (because if they really needed it they'd buy it) - what do they use it for?

When I see posts about Waves sending in law enforcement into a professional studio that's using a cracked package of Mercury - that's something to get legitimately pissed off about. The studio owners/operators have the resources. They have real use for it, because it can turn them a profit. Most importantly; they should know better because they know what happens to their music is done in exactly the same way.

As for the partner expecting to be a father; the genie's been out of the bottle since well, decades. There's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists - with that knowledge in mind, would you even wager such a bet in the first place?

Yes - you can make it, but you also know what forces you're fighting against.

In a just and fair world this wouldn't happen, and it's pretty clear that this world isn't.

I think a large scale information campaign about freeware could have a lot of impact.

I don't know. The people I've seen bragging about having Sylenth1 and Massive and the entire refx Nexus library with all the expansions -and- 3 DAWs (FL Studio, Ableton Live, Cubase, with all the bells & whistles) don't get into the freeware because it's too hard. It takes more effort to get Synth1 in Reaper and make some commercial-ish sounds than it is to load up Nexus in FL or even Cubase (hilariously overpowered and feature-bloated as it is to them) and click NEXT three or four times.

They literally do not want to put effort into making music at all. As a bonus however, they'll also amount to nothing in life, except for a small core of people who eventually pushes through - and then usually goes legal because they understand that anyone could just as easily pirate their music - and it's all fun and games if you're still living with your parents but not so good if you want to turn it into some kind of career.

The pirates getting this kind of stuff and uploading it - any freeware is like, repulsive to them. There's no challenge to it, and if it's free, surely it must not be worth anything.

The worst thing is that this screws legitimate customers another time - if the library developer disappears, say bye-bye to your support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...